


Hidden Angel

by ammstar11



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mortal, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Car Accidents, Criminal acts, Imprisonment, Kidnapping, Major Character Injury, Memory Loss, Mentions of Death, Minor Violence, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Solitary Confinement, Trigger Warnings, Urban Legends, pop culture references, secret friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-16 00:03:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17538860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ammstar11/pseuds/ammstar11
Summary: Minos has a grudge against Hades and decides to strike back at him by kidnapping his son. Nico lost his mother and sister in a car crash and lost all memory from before the crash and is now living another life locked away from the world. Rumors are going around that the house down the rundown street is haunted and the local kids and teens try to catch a glimpse.Will is the only one willing to get close enough to see if there really is a ghost in the house.





	1. Missing memory

**Author's Note:**

> This started out with me listening to my iPod and the song “Out there” from Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre dame came on and I thought hey maybe I could do a story similar with Nico and Minos and instead of being deformed he can see ghosts! But then it somehow became this and it resembles more the story of Rapunzel, but hey I’m good with that too!  
> This turned out to be nothing like I had originally planned listed above is kind of just to show how off track I can get.  
> Also this is a human/mortal AU.  
> I own none of the characters recognised in this story, or the titles listed above!  
> Warning: death, kidnapping, forced drug use (pharmaceutical), and various illegal happenings.  
> RATED T (pg. 14 maybe?)

**Chapter 1 Missing memory**

**_“Fatal car crash kills a Los Angeles family of three_.”** Reads the headline on the front page of the newspaper. **_“During a family outing a woman and her two children were struck by an oncoming vehicle and rolled off the side of the highway making recovery difficult. First responders report that the driver of the other vehicle made it out with minor injuries but the woman and daughter were pronounced dead on the scene, the son was taken to hospital but later succumbed to his injuries and died. When told of the tragic loss, the husband and father of the deceased, Hades di Angelo refused to speak with reporters, wishing to be alone with his grieving.”_**

Minos smiled to himself as he read the morning paper. Of course he already knew about the fatal crash, he had been one of the first responders on the scene.  The paper said that none of the family of three had survived but that wasn’t necessarily true, yes the mother and daughter had died on scene and the son was rushed to the hospital, but he did not die.

Minos had connections in that hospital and had them take care of the boy and make it look like he had died, knowing that the medical examiner would have to fill out a report, he had paid him off to make the report similar to the other two in order for it to be more believable, the father in his grieving would wait before claiming the bodies of his family.

In the meantime Minos had brought the boy to a secluded motel on the outskirts of town. Despite what was in the medical report, the boy had actually sustained little injury during the crash, he had hit his head and was unconscious and unresponsive when help had arrived and remained so until shortly after arriving at the hospital, after that he had been put into a medical induced coma and made to appear to have slipped away in his sleep (that doctor had been paid off too.)

Years ago Minos had worked for a large company owned and run by Hades di Angelo, one of the most powerful business owners in the country, Minos had been fired when it was discovered that he had been cutting corners and falsifying reports in order to steal money among other things. He had also been paying people off if any got wind of what he was doing, but somehow still word of what he was doing had reached Hades and in order to not cause a huge incident he had been fired and banned from employment under Hades or his brothers who were also big business owners, which unfortunately meant many of the large scale companies around the country.

He had thought of many ways to strike back at Hades but had never dreamed that something like this would present itself to him! To think he now held the life of Hades’ son in his hands, it wouldn’t take long for them to figure out that the death was faked and that the boy was missing, but it would take longer still for them to trace it all back to him; not that it would do them much good, he had changed his name and address long ago.

After making sure that the boy would not wake up for some time yet, Minos went to turn in his letter of resignation saying that the stress of the job and the emotional turmoil after responding to the crash had been too much for him, no one would question it because seeing something like that could be hard for anyone to handle. Then he headed home and packed up what he needed, luckily this was just a temporary home and didn’t hold much of his belongings so packing was quick and easy.

Once he was finished he loaded everything up into his vehicle and stopped to pick up child sized clothes before he returned to the motel. He had made sure to pay in cash leaving no substantial evidence that he had been there and had made sure that the desk clerk didn’t know he wasn’t alone. After he had gotten his room key upon first arriving at the motel earlier that day he had returned to his car to grab his belongings and that was when he moved the child inside when no one was around to see.

With his medical training he could safely keep the boy comatose for a while yet but he wanted to see what effects everything had had on him. So he roused the boy from his sleep. “Hey, wake up.” Minos said gently and the boy’s eyelids began to flutter open as he slowly came to.

“Huh?” he said, blinking his eye’s groggily as he tried to sit up but Minos made him remain lying down.

“Don’t try to sit up just yet, you’ve been in a nasty accident and hurt your head pretty badly, how do you feel?”

The boy reached up and grasped his head. “My head really hurts.”

Minos nodded, he knew that when dealing with children you would have to take your time and really listen to find out what you wanted to know. “Do you remember what happened?”

He began to shake his head but found it to be too painful so he spoke instead. “No.”

“Do you remember your name?”

He was about to nod his head but thought better of it. “Nico.”

Minos nodded, he had already known the boy’s name he just needed to know how much he remembered about himself. “How about anything else from before you got hurt?”

“No.”

“That’s okay Nico, you don’t have to worry about it because I’m right here with you and everything is going to be alright now. You just get some more rest.” As he had suspected Nico appeared to have amnesia as a result of suffering a blow to the head, it could take a long time for his memory to return or it may never return at all, either way this worked well for Minos, so long as Nico couldn’t remember anything he was like clay in his hands, he could be molded and shaped into what Minos wanted.

The next day early in the morning Minos checked out of the room and took Nico out to the car and gave him something to help with his pain and make him sleep as he drove. The fuel tank was nearly full so they wouldn’t have to stop to refuel anytime soon and would be well on their way before anyone caught onto what was happening.

…

A couple of days later as they were staying in another motel along the highway, Minos read the morning paper while Nico slept soundly on the bed. The main article on the front page spoke of the crash that had happened just outside of Los Angeles a few days ago and how it was discovered that members of the medical team had falsified the death of Nico di Angelo, son of the well-known business CEO Hades di Angelo, and now it had become a kidnapping case.

**_“After the tragic loss of both his wife and young daughter, Hades thought he would have to bury his son as well. When Hades went to the hospital to claim the bodies of his family, his son was missing. When pressed for an explanation the medical examiner admitted that the death had been a fake so there was no body to claim and that the boy was no longer there. It is still unclear as to who is behind this or what their motives are, but one thing is for certain, there is no describing the anguish that this man must be going through in these hard times.”_ **

It goes on to notify the public that there was an amber alert out for ten year old Nico di Angelo with a full description of what he looked like and listed contact information for anyone who might have seen Nico anywhere and saying that there was a reward for any useful information that would be paid by Hades himself.

Minos laughed quietly to himself, this was what he had been hoping for but it still wasn’t enough. Hades had only just begun to suffer.

When Nico awoke Minos made sure he had something to eat and then got him to take some medicine _‘because you still need plenty of rest._ ’ He had told him.

Once again they were on the road again, going in seemingly random directions, stopping now and then only as they needed to, sometimes Nico would be awake and Minos would have him stay quietly in the room they would be staying in, saying that he was sick and needed rest and that if he was good he would get a present.

Minos would go shopping and buy a few changes of clothes here and there and decided to pick up something that would keep Nico occupied while he was left alone. So he bought a few books here, a couple of small toys or some card game there. He was always sure to stop at different places and to always pay with cash; even traveling sporadically as they were he still didn’t want to leave any kind of trail behind.

He would then return to the motel and give Nico his new clothes and gift and late at night or early in the morning every day or two they would move on to the next place. They never left a clear path and most of the time Nico would be given something to help him sleep, sometimes Minos would give him something for pain and others he would slip it into Nico’s food or drink and would tell him that he was just sickly and needed lots of sleep when he began to feel the effects.

They kept this up for a few months, always on the move so no one could get a good description of them if they ever saw them together. Eventually they made it up to New York where Minos lived most of the year; it was located in a rundown neighborhood with few neighbors around to take notice of them. And those that did live nearby didn’t know him very well since when he was home he would keep to himself.

It was a little past midnight when they arrived at the house; Minos carried Nico from the car into the house and laid him down on the sofa as he went upstairs to the higher floor of the three story home to set up a room for him. After the room was arranged he went out to the car and brought in the toys and clothes to put in the room as well.

At last he finished and went down to the living room and shook Nico’s shoulder to wake him, the effects of the drug would still be there but he would still be able to wake up for a short time. “Nico wake up, we’re home now. Come on let’s get you up to your room.”

Nico sat up and rubbed his sleepy eyes as he looked around trying to take in his surroundings “Home?” he mumbled, his eyes still drooping.

“Yes, this is home, although you may not remember it since you hurt your head and all.”

Nico still feeling really sleepy nodded his head.

Minos had told him that he had lost all of his memories when he had hurt his head and wouldn’t be able to recognize things like home or his life before the accident but the traveling they did might help him remember, of course it hadn’t though seeing as how Nico had never been to those places he would have no prier memory of them and that included this house. “Do you remember the way to your room?”

Nico paused to think then shook his head. He was very honest even for a ten year old; he was so innocent and trusting. “No.” he said simply to which Minos smiled.

“Well then I should show you the way, let’s get going.” he held out a hand for Nico to take and led him up the stairs to the top floor where his room was to be.

“Now remember, too much sunlight isn’t good for you and neither is too much of the outside air, you may have gotten too much already on the trip which is why you would sleep so much, so keep the windows closed and the curtains too. I’ll bring you some food when it is time to eat and there is a washroom just down the first flight of stairs but you must stay in your room otherwise for now. I will bring you toys and games to help pass the time but for now get some rest.”

Nico nodded and walked over to the bed and settled down and Minos turned off the light and closed the door behind him after leaving the room.

Minos could feel a cruel smile tugging at his lips as he left the top floor, it was so easy to trick the child, a few kind words here, a few half-truths there, and convincing lies that would explain anything slightly off about anything and Nico would believe everything he told him.

After a while Minos would let Nico leave the upper floors and wander around the house but because of his condition he told him, he was never to leave the house. He was too sick to go outside and interact with people.

They had a television but no cable, he couldn’t let Nico accidentally stumble upon a news story or anything connecting him to the outside world so they watched movies instead but of course this was no problem for Nico.

Minos kept up to date on news stories through the paper which he always got rid of after he was finished with it. He had taught Nico to do simple housekeeping and meal prep for when he would leave him alone in order to go to work but he never said what his work was.

Nico was to stay inside like always, keep the doors and windows locked and just to be safe to stay away from the windows too.

For the most part Nico is obedient and does as he’s told, but every now and then when he’s home alone he will sit up in his bedroom and peer out the window along the side of the house to catch glimpses of the world outside and wonder what it would be like to be able to go out there and experience it for himself.


	2. Ghost stories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Percy Jackson, Scooby Doo or any of the characters mentioned in this chapter.

After a couple of years rumors had started going around that the house down the partly deserted street was haunted. Some have sworn that they have seen a ghostly figure in the upper windows now and then. Others claim to have seen a face peering out of one of the windows. While others have only seen the curtains move when all the windows are closed and the only person living in the house has been away.

There is never any sign of anyone else living in the home, no one else comes and goes no matter what part of the day, no lights are ever on late at night when the home owner is away, aside from the rumored sightings in the upper windows there has never been any sign of there being anyone else in the home so most people brush the rumors aside as fabricated stories meant to scare away nosey neighbors.

Despite the many doubts the rumors become an urban legend among the local kids and teens that all try to catch a glimpse of the mysterious figure in the upper floor windows but rare few ever do.

Since the home owner leaves for up to a few days at a time now and then, a group of friends living nearby have taken it upon themselves to watch the home whenever he leaves to see if they can see the figure for themselves. They watch the house each day to see if the man has left and each time get a little closer to the house to see what they can see.

One day when the man isn’t home the group of friends test each other to see who is brave enough to go close enough to get a good look if the figure does appear.

“Percy you’re the oldest you should go!” a blond boy with light blue eyes says to a boy with short black hair and sea green eyes.

“Why do I always have to go? What’s stopping any of you guys from going?” Percy turns and looks at the others.

“Hey don’t look at me; this whole Scooby Doo thing was Leo’s idea remember?” the blond boy who had spoken first said turning to the boy next to him, he had curly dark brown hair and was fiddling around with random things he had pulled out of his pocket as he seemed prone to doing.

“Hey if we’re the gang from Scooby Doo I call not being a girl!” Leo said not looking up from whatever it was he was doing.

Percy just looks at him like he’s crazy. “Jason tell me again why we brought him?” the blond boy, Jason just shrugs his shoulders. “He’s my best friend and one of the only ones dumb enough to sneak over here with us to spy on the supposedly haunted house.”

Percy nods and turns to the forth member of their group. “And what about him?” he gestures to the other blond haired blue eyed boy with slightly darker coloring and freckles dusting his face.

“Will is my next door neighbor and wanted to see if there’s really a ghost here so I let him tag along.” Leo supplied still working on whatever he had going there.

Percy and Jason just look at him. “Well back to the matter at hand before we got all sidetracked like usual, why do I always have to go first?” Percy said getting their focus again.

“I’ll go; I’m not afraid of ghosts.” Will said, he was the youngest of the group of four by a year or two.

“Hey who said anything about being scared of ghosts?” Percy asked.

“Come on gang lets go catch us a ghost!” Leo said as they headed from their stakeout spot on an empty lot down the street from the house.

“You know this is probably just some stupid scam or something to scare the local kid’s right?” Jason said.

“I’m thinking the guy probably started the rumors himself to keep people away.” Leo added as they drew closer to the house.

“Hey Shaggy, Scooby, if you’re too chicken to actually go up to the house I’m not pulling out any Scooby snacks for you.” Percy said.

“HEY!” the two said indignantly and Leo paused to think about it for a moment “Wait who’s who?”

Percy rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter just keep going.”

Leo nudges Jason with his elbow. “I’m Shaggy, you can be the dog. And Will’s Daphne, the one that always gets caught by the ghosts and monsters.”

There were no protests from Will though; he was too busy watching the house as they got closer to see if he could catch any sign of movement on the top floor like he was always hearing about. He had always wanted to see a ghost for himself, and when rumors of a haunted house nearby started up he felt like his chance had finally come.

They stopped at the edge of the yard in front of the house next to the one from the rumors. So far they hadn’t seen anything.

“I’m telling you guys it’s all just some big hoax, let’s just go to the arcade or something.” Leo said as he pulled what looked like pipe cleaners out of his pocket.

“Wait what’s that?” Percy asked pointing to a window along the side of the house.

All four looked up and saw part of what seemed to be a pale face peeking out from behind a curtain in one of the dark rooms upstairs but it was gone too quickly to make out any real features.

“Oh God there really is something up there, did you guys see it?!” Jason said.

“Um yeah, what was that? Do you think this place is really haunted? What if it’s like some evil spirit and it wants to put a curse on us or something?” Leo asked; whatever he had in his hands had been completely forgotten by now.

“I don’t know about you guys but I’m not sticking around to find out.” Percy said as he quickly turned and headed back the way they had come, the other two following right behind him. None of them bothering to check to make sure that the fourth member of their group was with them.

Will was still standing in place watching the spot that the face had been, he was too curious to be scared off by the thought of some evil spirit, so he decided to get a better look.

Will looks around to make sure that no one was looking and then heads into the yard and around the house to where a tree is close to the upper windows and begins to climb. Once he reaches a branch that is almost level with the far window he looks toward it only to nearly fall out of the tree when he sees someone looking back at him. It’s a boy, maybe about his age, with dark hair like Percy but with dark eye’s set into a pale face.

Will can’t help but stare at the boy, if this was the ghost from the stories, he was probably the first person to get such a close look at it and he wanted to see it as well as he could so he moved a little closer to the window that he then noticed was partly open.

“Are you a ghost?” he hears himself ask, still staring at the boy in the window.

The boy shakes his head. “No, who are you?” he asked staring back at Will just as equally astonished like he’d never seen another kid this close before, although he probably didn’t see many kids sitting in a tree outside his window on the third floor so it was understandable.

“Will, my name is Will, what’s yours?” he said bringing himself out of his thoughts, Percy was right about the getting sidetracked thing.

There was a long pause as the boy continued to stare at Will like he was an alien or some weird creature, but he supposed that was how he was probably looking at him too, he had thought he was a ghost after all.

“Nico.” he said at last. “You shouldn’t be here, dad wouldn’t like it. I’m not even supposed to be near the window or talk to people.”

Will blinked in surprise. “Why not?”

Nico looked down slightly like he felt bad for doing something wrong. “Because I get sick easily and have to stay inside all the time.”

He was sick? Well that and that he was always inside with the windows closed might explain why he looked like a ghost Will thought. “Can I help? My dad’s a doctor and I kind of know how to take care of sick people.”

But Nico just shakes his head. “You shouldn’t be up here; I shouldn’t be talking to you.”

“Awe come on don’t be that way, I thought we could be friends! You know now that I know that you’re not a ghost, although being friends with a ghost might be cool too.” Will gave Nico a friendly smile.

There was another pause as Nico seemed to think that over. “I’ve never had any friends before.”

Will’s smile turns to a look of complete shock. “What how can that be?” Will asked, unable to believe someone could go through life without ever making a single friend.

Nico bites his lip before replying. “Well I don’t really know. I hurt my head when I was younger and lost all of my memories. But my dad takes care of me. I can’t leave because I’m so weak and get sick easily so I haven’t been able to make any friends.”

Will didn’t know it was possible to be anymore shocked than he already was after hearing that Nico had never had any friends but he came close to almost falling out of the tree again when Nico said he had lost all of his memories.

“Wow, did you really lose all of your memories?” he finally managed to ask when he could find his voice again.

Nico nodded. “Everything but my name ‘Nico’.” he said.

“Well then!” Will said with a big smile on his face, “I’ll be your first friend!” his smile only grew when he saw a small smile on Nico’s face.

“Okay.”


	3. Fair princess

Nico knew that his dad would be really upset with him if he ever found out that he would hangout around the windows when he was home alone, but he would really be angry if he ever found out that a boy had climbed the tree outside of Nico’s window to talk to him. But Will had seemed really nice and he had said that he wanted to be Nico’s first friend, so would his dad be angry over that? It was probably best not to tell him anyway, just in case. Nico didn’t want to get Will into trouble.

Will had told him that he would come back again when Nico’s dad wasn’t home so that they wouldn’t get caught. After all they were friends now so they should get to know each other better. Maybe now Nico wouldn’t feel so lonely when his dad was away.

Nico used to hate when his dad would leave, he would feel all alone in the big house and wish that he had someone to talk to. But now he looked forward to that time alone because that meant that Will would be able to come and see him, and he would have a real friend.

He didn’t feel so alone anymore and he always got to learn something new when Will told him stories. Sure when his dad got home from his work he would bring Nico gifts but they didn’t really make him happy, they were just meant for him to pass the time with while he was alone.

Will had kept his promise and came back anytime Nico’s dad was away and he would sit in the tree chatting away each time. This went on for a couple of months.

*****

The next time Minos had left he had told Nico that he would be gone for three days, and had left enough food for him to eat. He reminded him that he needed to be sure to take his medicine and get plenty of rest.

Nico hated that he spent so much time sleeping, if he didn’t feel so tired all of the time maybe he could spend more time talking with Will. Maybe if he wasn’t so sick he would be able to go outside and be a regular kid instead of being stuck inside all the time.

Will had told him about times when he was sick and how his dad always took good care of him until he was better, but would Nico ever get better? He sure hoped so; at the very least he wanted to be able to remember things from before his accident.

Nico was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a tapping sound from outside his bedroom window. He smiled knowing only one person that could be out there. He ran over to the window to open it and found Will sitting on his usual perch in the tree just outside. This time he was holding something in his hand and smiled broadly at Nico as he held the thing out for him to take.

Nico took the thing and looked at it. “What is it?” he asked turning it over and looking at the odd shape and buttons on it.

Will held up a matching one still smiling. “They’re walkie-talkies; we can use them to talk to each other without you having to open your window or me to climb the tree, though I might still do that since it’s so fun to sit in the tree while talking. Try it! You just press down on the button here when you want to talk into it, see?” he held his close to his mouth as he held down the button, “Testing, testing one two three.”

Nico looked down at the walkie-talkie in his hand when he heard Wills voice come through it. “That’s so cool! Let me try!” he said with a huge grin on his face and closed his window then stood on the other side of his room before holding down the button. “Can you hear me Will?”

Will waved to him then used his to answer back, “Loud and clear out here!”

Nico told Will about the latest movie his dad had bought him and about what book he was reading, Will smiled at his enthusiasm about the characters and the great adventures they would go on. Not being able to leave the house himself, Nico really enjoyed seeing the world through the character’s eye even if they were made up worlds.

“Wouldn’t it be cool to go on amazing adventures fighting monsters or exploring the world?” Nico asked “The characters in these books go on awesome quests to save the world! I wish I could be a hero, but locked up here I’m more like a princess in need of rescuing.” he said a little disheartened.

“Well I guess I’ll just have to be your knight in shining armor then, won’t I?” Will asked with a huge grin on his face.

Nico looked at him confused. “What do you mean?”

Will moved closer to the window. “I mean _fair princess_ , that I _Sir William_ shall rescue you from this tower and take you on an adventure of your own! What do you say?”

Nico wasn’t sure how he felt about being referred to as ‘ _fair princess’_ but since it was Will, he didn’t let it bother him. “Well _Sir William_ how do you suggest getting me out? Dad always keeps the doors locked and I’m on the third floor right now.”

Will smiled back. “We can just climb down this tree and when it’s time to get you home we’ll climb back up!”

Nico looked doubtful. “I’ve never climbed a tree before that I know of Will, what if I fall?”

“You’ll be okay, I’ll be right there to catch you so don’t worry!”

After a moment to think it over he decided that the idea of leaving this house and going on an adventure with Will was too good to pass up. So he set down his walkie-talkie on his bed and walked over to the window and opened it. He wasn’t afraid of heights; he spent much of his time home alone looking out the top floor windows, more so now, now that he had Will to talk to. But he had never climbed out of a window to climb down a tree before and that did make him a bit nervous. But Will had promised he’d help him so he wasn’t too worried, he fully trusted Will.

So he opened his window again and with a deep breath for courage he climbed up onto the window sill and sat on it in order to slowly edge out onto the tree branch where Will waited with his hand out stretched for Nico to hold onto for support and helped him slowly make his way to the trunk of the tree and showed him where to hold on so that he wouldn’t fall.

”Just follow my lead, I’ll climb down first and wait for you at the bottom and that way I’ll be there to catch you if you fall.”

Nico nodded as he watched Will descend the tree. When Will got to the base of the tree and looked up at him Nico took another deep breath and started climbing down the way he watch Will do it. Once he was nearly to the ground Will helped him hop off the tree and for the first time since the day he came home Nico was standing outside. He looked around in awe trying to take in everything around him. He didn’t even have any shoes because he never needed to leave the house so he was standing out here with bare feet which Will noticed.

“Don’t you have shoes?” he asked looking at Nico’s feet. Nico shook his head “I haven’t worn shoes since dad brought me home after the accident, I couldn’t go outside so I never needed any.”

No matter how many times Nico told him that he wasn’t able to leave the house Will just couldn’t wrap his mind around it, it seemed.

“So you couldn’t even go outside to play in the yard? You haven’t left your house ever in two whole years?”

Nico nodded again. “Dad says I’m too sick to be outside,” he took a deep breath “but I feel fine. Maybe I’ve gotten better?”

Will shrugged. “Maybe.”

Will seemed to think something over and then smiled “I know! We’ll go to my house and I’ll give you a pair of my old shoes so that you’ll have some when you go outside next time!”

Nico looked a little confused at that. “Next time?”

This time Will nodded. “Yeah! The next time your dad’s gone for a long time I’ll help you leave your tower again, my _fair princess_.” he did an exaggerated bow and Nico’s cheeks heated up a little at once again being referred to as ‘ _fair princes’_.

“Well I guess that’ll be okay.”

Will beamed at that. “Great! Let’s go to my house then, it’s not that far.” he paused for a moment then walked up to Nico and crouched down next to him. “Here hop on my back I’ll carry you so that you don’t step on anything.”

Nico looked a bit skeptical though. “Are you sure?”

“Sure I’m sure, like I said it’s not that far to my house, and you don’t have anything on your feet so I can’t let you walk.”

After a couple of heart beats Nico walked over to Will and climbed onto his back.

Will stood up and made sure that Nico wouldn’t fall, “Alright then off we go! Hold on tight!” and with that he started running down the block carrying Nico who had to wrap his arms around Will’s neck to make sure that he was hanging on but soon enough eased up on his grip slightly, and they were both laughing as Will ran all the way home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And chapter 3 end!  
> Well we’re back to more the plot of Rapunzel but that’s okay. I hope that you are enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it! Thank you all for the reviews, they really make me happy to see.  
> <( ^_^)> Hugs for you all!  
> I hope things weren’t too repetitive.


	4. The best of friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going to be a mix of points of view unlike the others where it was only one, for the most part anyway.

Will was out of breath by the time they reached his front door though whether it was from the running or the laughing or a combination of the two he didn’t really care. It was so fun that he wanted to do it again and again until his lungs gave out but he knew he couldn’t. Besides Nico was at his house! They could finally sit in the same room and talk or play as much as they wanted to.

He set Nico down on the step as he opened the front door to let them into the house. “My parents aren’t home right now so we have the house to ourselves, though I guess you’re used to that huh?”

Nico nodded as he looked around the house when they stepped inside.

Ever since he lost his memory all he’s ever seen is the inside of his own house or the motel rooms that he and his dad stayed in while traveling around, he had seen a bit of scenery as they drove but he was always so groggy that it was kind of fuzzy when he tried to remember any of it.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Will speaking to him.

“Isn’t it lonely to always be stuck at home? Especially when your dad leaves?”

Nico shrugged he hadn’t really felt lonely ever since he met Will. “I guess but it’s all I remember, so I guess I’m used to it.”

Will made a face at that then smiled; he smiled a lot Nico noticed. “Well we’re going to change that! Come upstairs to my room, I have something to show you!”

Will took Nico’s hand and led him up the stairs towards his room. “So you know how you kept telling me about that card game that you really liked?” he let go of Nico’s hand as they entered the room and he went over to the bedside table and opened the drawer and pulled out a stack of cards. “I told my parents about it so now I have my own cards, do you want to play?”

Nico’s face lit up, he had never actually played against anyone before just sorted out the cards and came up with different strategies for them. The thought of actually being able to play the game was so exciting for him. “Okay!”

Will set up the game mat and dealt out the cards into two decks as evenly as he could so that it would be an even match and they started the game.

After half an hour they had played five rounds because despite never playing before Nico was great at the game and the battles were short leaving Nico the victor all five rounds in a row.

“Wow your great at this! Maybe I should stop calling you _fair princess_ and start calling you _mighty general_. Do you think that you could give me some pointers so that the next time I face off against Leo I’ll be able to take him out in under five turns?”

Nico looked up at the unfamiliar name. “Leo?”

“A friend of mine who lives next door, I was with him and a couple of his friends the day I first met you. You know back when we thought you were a ghost.”

Nico remembered there being a group of boys outside that day, the others had run away when they saw him but Will had stayed and even ventured close enough to climb the tree and talk to him.

“Were the other two your friends too?” he was curious who Will’s other friends were, he had only seen those boys that one time and Will spent so much time visiting him that he hadn’t given the others much thought.

“I guess we’re friends now but that was the first time I had actually met those two. Leo had told me about how he and some friends wanted to go investigate the rumors of a haunted house and I was curious too so he let me tag along, and I’m really glad I did!” Will flashed another bright smile at him which he returned.

“I’m really glad you did too.” Who knew it was possible for Will to smile even more than he already had been.

“Hey I have an idea! Why don’t I introduce you to my other friends so that you can meet more people and make other friends too!”

Nico wasn’t so sure about that though. “I don’t know, I’m not really used to being around people other than you or my dad, what would I say to them?”

Will took a moment to think it over. “Why don’t we challenge them to a game and show them how awesome you are! I’m sure that it would be lots of fun.”

Nico stared down at the cards in front of him and decided that it did sound like fun. “Okay, let’s go!”

They packed up the card game and headed downstairs again. As they reached the coat closet Will stopped. “We can’t forget about these!” he said as he bent down to dig around in the closet for his old shoes to give to Nico. “Here you go.” he passed Nico a pair of grey running shoes with images of bows and arrows drawn on them in marker, Nico took them and looked at the drawings.

“I went to camp last summer and got really into archery so I drew those everywhere, my shoes, my backpack, my notebooks, kind of drove my mom crazy with it.” Will told him.

Nico wondered what it would be like to go to a real camp and if maybe he could one day.

Will figured out what must have been going through Nico’s head so he changed the subject. “Why don’t we see how the shoes fit?”

Nico sat down on the little stool by the closet while Will placed the shoes on his feet.

“There, how does that feel?” he asked as he felt the toe of the shoes to see how much room Nico’s feet had.

Nico wiggled his toes around finding the shoes comfortable enough. “Good I guess; it’s kind of hard remembering the last time I even had shoes on my feet.”

Will considered this for a moment before asking “Do you remember how to tie shoe laces?” Nico just shook his head. “That’s okay I can show you.” Will showed Nico how to tie laces so that they were tight enough and wouldn’t come undone. “There! Okay let’s go see what Leo is up to next door.” And with that they were on their way out the door.

…

Will knocked on the door of his neighbor’s house and a minute later Leo came to the door.

“Hey Will! Where have you been lately? I hardly see you outside of school these days and summers right around the corner.”

Will shrugged nonchalantly. “I’ve been visiting my friend Nico,” he gestures to Nico standing next to him on the porch, “we were just wondering if you would like to join us for a card battle, Nico here is a great player he just kicked my butt five times in a row in less than five turns each time!” Will held up his deck of cards to show Leo.

Nico felt his embarrassed being spoken so highly of to one of Will’s friends. No one had ever said something like that about him to anyone before because it had always just been him and his dad until Will came along.

Leo seemed impressed though, he even gave a low whistle. “Woah that impressive alright. Jason and Percy are over, they came to play video games but maybe they would want to try to beat your record, they can be pretty competitive.”

Will smiled and looked at Nico. “Great!” he said while Nico nodded shyly.

Leo invites them in and leads the way to the basement were the other boys were sitting waiting for him.

“Hey man what took so long?” Jason asked as he saw Leo coming down the stairs.

“Yeah we were waiting, hey who’s that with you?” Percy asked spotting the other two right behind Leo.

Leo stopped at the foot of the stairs and gestured behind him. “Will and his friend here wanted to challenge us to a card battle, you guys up for it? Apparently this kid’s really good.” he said pointing to Nico who could feel his face heating up again.

“How good?” Jason asked, leaning forward in his seat.

Will answered for him which Nico was thankful for. “He hasn’t actually played before today but he kicked my butt five rounds out of five!” Nico wondered if it was normal for people to be so happy about losing so badly or if Will was just that happy of a person that nothing really bothered him.

Just like Leo had done before Percy let out a low whistle. “Wow, if you keep that up you could enter tournaments or something.” he looked over at Jason and then smiled back at them. “Okay you’re on! As it so happens we have our cards with us too!”

Leo looked over at Will and Nico as if to say ‘ _See? I told you so.’_ Then he turned back to Percy and Jason. “Alright, first we can have one on one matches to see who can get the most wins and then we’ll do team battles with the person with the least amount of wins as the score keeper, deal?” everyone agreed.

More than two hours later they had played more rounds than anticipated because after Nico had won every one of his matches three times -because everyone had demanded a rematch each time- then they had the team battles with Leo as the score keeper, Nico and Will had won that four times because Percy and Jason were determined to win at least once against them but never could. Finally it was getting late into the evening and they had to go home for dinner, with Jason going over to Percy’s since they were cousins, and Will offering for Nico to come over to his place for dinner.

“Come on it’ll be fun! And then after we can play again.”

But Nico shook his head. “I should really get home, I have my dinner waiting for me already and I have to take my medicine still.”

This had caught the other’s attention.

“What do you have to take medicine for? You don’t look sick?” Percy asked looking at him as if it would help him solve the mystery.

Nico shrugged. “I’ve always had a weak body and get tired easily and I spend a lot of time sleeping so I have to take my medicine everyday if I want to get better.”

The three boys looked at him in amazement; they couldn’t picture this lively kid who could take them all out so easily in a card battle as someone who couldn’t stay alert very much.

“Is that why we haven’t seen you at school before?” Jason asked looking kind of worried now.

“I’m home schooled, dad says I could get worse if I leave the house for things like school so I just stay home.”

Now the three boys just seemed speechless. Will still felt disappointed that Nico couldn’t come back over to his house that day but decided that it would be for the best to get Nico back home, after all they had snuck him out of the house and even though his dad wouldn’t be home anytime soon he didn’t want him to get in trouble, or worse, get even sicker than he was.

“Okay I’ll walk you home. But maybe we can hang out again tomorrow?” he really hoped Nico would say yes.

“Sounds like fun.” Nico said as he smiled while looking at his feet. Then he looked up to say goodbye to the new friends that he met today. “See you guys, I had a lot of fun. Thank you.”

Leo who finally was able to think straight again nodded. “I’ll walk you guys to the door.” The other two waved goodbye to them before they went on their way to Percy’s and after Leo went back inside Will and Nico started on their way back to Nico’s house when Will stopped and crouched down before Nico again like he had done earlier that day.

“How about a victory ride home to your castle _fair princess_?” he said smiling back at Nico.

“I thought you said that you were going to stop calling me that _Sir William.”_ Nico said trying not to laugh but not really succeeding.

Will shrugged. “That was just during our card battles, but now this _noble knight_ must escort the _fair princess_ back home again after their adventure.”

Nico still wasn’t sure. “But isn’t this why you gave me shoes? So that I could walk on my own?”

Will smiled. “Yeah but isn’t this more fun?”

Nico couldn’t argue with that. “Okay you win.”

Will laughed. “Finally!” they both laughed as Will rose up carrying Nico on his back and started running to Nico’s while Nico kept his arms wrapped around Wills shoulders this time.

Once they reached the tree Will set Nico down while he caught his breath. “You know that might just be the best workout ever, maybe if we keep doing that I can try out for the track team at school!”

Nico laughed and shook his head at his friend. “Hey Will?” Will looked at Nico waiting for him to continue. “We’re friends right?” Will nodded. “And those guys are our friends too right?” Will nodded again and Nico smiled sweetly. “I think you’re my best friend then.”

Will smiled too. “I sure hope so; it would be kind of a downer if after one day one of those goofballs replaced me as your best friend.” They laughed again.

“Okay up we go, do you want to go first?”

Nico looked at the tree. “Sure, why not.” he began climbing and when he had reached the branch Will always sat on Will followed suit.

After Will had made sure that Nico had made it safely into his room he took out his walkie-talkie to say good night. He pressed down on the button. “Goodnight _Fair princess_ , sweet dreams!” he was about to leave when he heard a reply. “Goodnight _noble knight_ , you too.” he looked up to see Nico looking out his window, face slightly pink. When he turned away Will climbed down the tree and walked home with a huge smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 everybody! The longest one yet woohoo!  
> I’ve played a lot of card games so I wasn’t sure how to word things for this one but I hope it was alright.  
> I hope that there are no problems with the time jumps in this story, in case you guys are wondering Nico and Will are 12-13 because I wasn’t really specific in the begining with the time of year just that Minos and Nico where traveling around for the better part of a year and that when the accident had happened Nico was 10. The age differences remain the same as in the books though.  
> And if anyone was wondering, the girls will be making an appearance later on in the story; so don’t worry.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so that was chapter 1! I am purposely trying to make Minos as creepy as possible without turning him into a pervert or anything like that. He’s just a psycho who isn’t fazed by using a child as a means to reach his goals of revenge. I had an idea of where I was going with this when I started but it kind of just went its own way as I wrote on and now the plot is getting twisted around but I don’t hate it so there’s that.


End file.
